FORT WORTH, Texas — Kurt Busch got a little more aggressive in the first round of qualifying, and it paid off with a pole at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer will start in the top three spots in Texas after a weather-shortened qualifying session Friday.

“The thought that weather was in the area, it hadn’t crossed our minds, but yet you’ve got to play all three rounds as smart as you can,” Busch said. “I think round two, we would have picked up even more speed. Round three, that’s where we would have made a big gamble to see if we could still maintain that pace. But I’m glad we had the pace right off the truck.”

With his top lap of 197.368 mph, Busch earned his first pole this season and the 32nd in his career.

There was initially a delay because of lightning in the area soon after the first round had been completed to determine the top 24 drivers. The second and third rounds of qualifying were eventually canceled because of more lightning and threatening weather.

Harvick won at Texas in November and his three-race winning streak earlier this season included the only two races so far at 1 1/2-mile tracks. He had a lap of 197.116 mph and will start ahead of Bowyer, who before the Easter weekend break won at Martinsville two weeks ago.